@Error418tws And I don't mean to criticize Wilder, whose work I love. You are probably right. It was likely far enough from the 1930s that a lot of people had forgotten. Today, I think he's better known for his antisemitism than for his transatlantic flight!

I just spent a bit discussing the Billy Wilder film The Spirit of St Louis (1957) with ChatGPT. It had a hard time understanding my question about why Wilder made the film. He was successful enough to refuse. He fled the Nazis in the early 1930s. He had close family that died in the Holocaust. Why would he make this film that puffs up a well-known antisemite and Nazi sympathizer? I still don't know.

@lenaoflune I love myth -- it's a way of communicating truth. What I hate about modern religion is its tendency toward literalism.

@Helenearth I know it mostly from the smarmy guy in the video ads. I've never even visited the site. But now over at Twitter, places like The Epoch Times are the majority of their advertisers!

I just saw an ad for The Epoch Times. Normally, it's all the most vile stuff -- conspiracy theories and anti-trans propaganda. But this was for an upcoming Social Security COLA -- as a good thing. And it shows how wrong people like DeSantis and Scott and Haley are being by talking about cutting the program. Their base may love the bigotry but they do not like talk of cutting Social Security.

The World's Greatest Athlete was a 1973 live-action Disney film starring John Amos and Tim Conway with Roscoe Lee Browne and Jan-Michael Vincent in the title role. Parts of it are cringey and ethnocentric. But I was struck by how this 50-year-old film would make conservatives today cry, "Woke!" It's a funny and sweet film. Free to watch without commercials here:

https://archive.org/details/the-worlds-greatest-athlete_202109

I just learned a word: Elongelical.

I don't think I need to define it...

A handicapper friend sent me this from a sportsbook. There are 4 ways to bet on Donald Trump's legal future. Interesting that there is much more money on Trump to fail in the docs case than the hush money case (makes sense). I'm not a betting man, but the other two bets seem like easy money betting against Trump.

@GreenLady08 It was that photo that came immediately to my mind when the story first broke.

@Say_what_now Definitely one of the better ones. As a kid, I was fascinated by the contraption he made for his web. And I do like the working class feel of the early stuff

Zorro is the only superhero that I really like. And there is no film that touches the 1975 Italian Zorro starring Alain Delon and Stanley Baker. Here's an okay print of it.

https://archive.org/details/zorrowesternstarringalaindelonfullmovieenglishfreeclassicfeaturefilmyoutubemovies

I just watched Drive-In Massacre (1977). It's a surprisingly good low-budget film featuring one very impressive bit of gore. It has a dorky William-Castle-style ending. But the dialog is way better than usual and it features some very fun characters.

This print is by far the best I've seen. Most prints (including the free ones on Archive) suck.

https://tubitv.com/movies/705296

This is sweet. But I already liked the kid because of the Jaws t-shirt. And then there was a second t-shirt in the story! I know it's not the point, but...

https://www.kcra.com/article/boy-rang-neighbors-doorbell-looking-friends-viral-video/44523616

Capsule review of Unknown Visitor (2019)

This is a 52-minute video (only available on Prime). It isn't great but the last half is very strong. And it's amazing given the film is basically no-budget.

https://psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/u/#unknown-visitor

Capsule review of Graveyard Alive (2003)

Excellent first film of Elza Kephart. Funny but dry zombie romantic comedy. Sadly, none of the disc releases are very good. And it isn't streaming anywhere. But you can see Kephart's most recent and arguably better, Slaxx (2020), on Shudder and AMC+.

https://psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/g/#graveyard-alive

This is a wonderful short video from Seth Andrews about why, after giving up Christianity when he was politically conservative, he became a liberal Democrat. Short answer: not having morality dictated to him, he was able to find his true beliefs. He's a humanist and the Democratic Party is the one that best supports that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1rvH_vVQZE

That's all I can find for now. It'd be nice to have more comedy. I tried to find The Pajama Game, but it's only available through OK.RU, which I can't use in watch2gether. If anyone knows of a better system, let me know!

@ordenauta Yes! I'm trying to get a mix of things. Not sure if there's a way to make all of these fit together. Most of these are really serious!

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

https://archive.org/details/the-grapes-of-wrath-1940

I'm All Right Jack (1959)

https://archive.org/details/ImAllRightJack1960